Linked
by StarryHeaven
Summary: An attempt at assasination takes the princess and her two bodyguards out of their homeland and into a foreign land, where they find out that everything is not as it seems to be.
1. Character Profiles

Okay, this isn't an official chapter, but I do want to make some things clear before I begin. I didn't want my author's note for chapter 1 to be very long, 'cause I hate reading long notes, so I'm putting the ramblings here.

To start, this is my first ever Tales of Vesperia fanfiction. It was based off of a show I watched on TV one day and a favorite book of mine. The show, which was on history channel, (Don't ask, I was bored.) was about the last of the royal family of Russia, Czar Nicholas and his family. I was sad to see that the entire family had been killed, but I wondered what would have happened if Anastasia was still alive today. What if she had escaped with a few friends to another place in time? How would she deal with the changes? Then I started thinking about a favorite book of mine, called Running Out Of Time, by Margaret Peterson Haddix. To make things short, it was about a girl who discovers the time era that she lives in is just a fake meant to attract tourists. She has to go to the real time era to find a cure for a deadly disease that's killing many people before time runs out. So I thought, what if Terca Lumereis is nothing but a hoax? What if it was really a society that was created in hopes of creating the "perfect" society? How long do illusions last before they are revealed? So those are some things to consider as you read the story.

Also, the time for the story is during the new Tales of Vesperia movie, The First Strike. It takes place a little less than ten years before the actual storyline, after the Great War. Here are the main four characters and their professions and ages:

**Yuri Lowell**

Age: 18

Occupation: imperial knight

**Flynn Scifo**

Age: 18

Occupation: imperial knight

**Estellise Sidos Heurassein**

Age: 15

Occupation: princess

**Sodia ****Aiheap**

Age: 18

Occupation: imperial knight

**Raven**

Age: 26

Occupation: sergeant

Hope you like the story!


	2. Chapter 1

_**Okay, everyone, I am back for good! Seriously, you guys didn't think I was dead or something did you? I wouldn't abandon you guys for anything. After so long of not going on this site, I figured I had to start somewhere, and just yesterday, I dug out a bunch of hard copy versions of my old stories, so I figured the best way is just to do it one at a time. So I'm starting with Tales of Vesperia, since I don't have anything for this story yet besides a basic outline, and the other stories already have some chapters. So enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Vesperia**_

**Chapter 1: Escape**

"Lady Estellise," The voice came from the doorway-soft, commanding, yet respectful at the same time. The pink haired princess looked up.

"Oh, Flynn. You came. I'm so glad you did; I'm having the most awful headache and I thought you might want to join me in the garden. That is, if you want to." She looked down at her lap shyly.

The speaker entered the room.

"Of course, my lady."

"The flowers are really in bloom this year," Estellise remarked. She bent over and picked a yellow flower with blue edges.

"For you."

"Thank you." Flynn accepted the flower from the princess and tucked it into his armor.

Then she picked a pink flower with white edges.

"And for me."

"My lady, may I speak freely?"

Estellise nodded, and he continued, hesitantly, "Princess, I fear there might be imminent danger from the rebels. If I recall correctly, last month they tried to assassinate someone working for the royal family. I fear the next step may be targeted at the royal family."

"Oh no," Estellise gasped, covering her mouth with a gloved hand. "But why?"

Flynn's face darkened. "I cannot guess as to why."

"Perhaps they need help," Estellise offered helpfully. She bent over to pick another flower.

Flynn frowned. "I do not believe they would try to assassinate if they needed help, my lady." There was a faint booming sound in the distance, and Flynn pricked his ears up, trying to locate the direction the sound was coming from.

"Flynn? Is there…something wrong?"

Flynn continued to survey the area, but didn't hear any more booming noises. He exhaled.

"All is well, princess. I apologize deeply for frightening you."

The pink-haired princess went back to picking flowers, saying something about how pretty they were and something about someone liking them a lot, but Flynn trailed along behind her, only half-listening. His mind was still processing the events from before.

_**What was that booming sound? It sounded too loud to be construction work, perhaps a monster? Yuri better not be "getting rowdy" at a bar again.**_

The corner of Flynn's mouth twitched upwards a little as he remembered the last time they were at a bar, and Yuri's smart mouth had gotten him, Flynn himself, Sodia, and Sodia's twin (he could never remember what her name was, but apparently both of them were talked about in the barracks- and not in a good way either) in trouble. They had gotten a scolding from the commandant and made to do work to compensate.

The booming sound was heard again, and Flynn instantly turned towards the sound.

_**There it is again!**_

Suddenly, a large portion of the wall to their right crumbled, and Sodia (her twin?) tumbled in, looking like she had narrowly escaped the world's demise. Without any pretense or formalities, she panted, "Flynn! The princess is in trouble!"

"How so?"

"Code Blastia," the other responded, grimly.

Flynn took a sharp intake of breath. _Code Blastia? _It had never gotten this serious before. Sure, they'd had problems with intruders and outlaws wanting to kill the royal family before, but the knights had always made sure those intruders were sent scrambling for their lives before nightfall.

A sudden rumbling sound distracted him from his thoughts. The portion of wall to his left had crumbled, and the ground underneath them was shaking. A servant came rushing out of the castle, followed by panicked maids. It was then that Estelle took note of the faint booming sounds.

"Flynn, what is happening?" she asked a hint of fear in her voice. Meanwhile, Sodia had grabbed a maid rushing out and was questioning the frightened maid.

"Flynn! What is happening?" Estelle asked again, when Flynn suddenly pulled the princess down with one hand, yelling to everyone in the general vicinity, "Duck!"

The three of them fell flat on the dirt just as a streak of red went by right over their head.

"Flynn, please tell me," Estelle begged, the panic now evident in her voice. but Flynn just said quietly, "please trust me, Lady Estellise." It sounded more like a plea than a request.

After what felt like an eternity, Flynn got up, helping Estelle up as well. He looked at Sodia, and they both nodded. Flynn turned to Estelle.

"If you will, please follow me, princess."

They walked the eerily quiet corridor back to Estelle's room, passed it, and went down another very unfamiliar corridor, then down another. Occasionally, they would stop, listen for a while, then turn a corner. More than once, they turned into a corridor or hid in a room or behind crates when they heard footsteps. Finally, they stopped at the last door and opened it. The room was pitch black, despite it being sunny outside.

Flynn let go of Estelle's hand and fiddled with his blastia, which gaused a glyph to appear. Sodia gasped.

"Flynn- that's not-"

"It is."

"But we can't resort to THAT! Not yet. We're not that desperate yet."

"It is. Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"But it's too dangerous," the female knight protested. "You promised you wouldn't use this door, unless it's an emergency."

"The times have changed, Sodia," Flynn explained patiently. "The princess's life is in danger."

"But the princess won't be able to handle it! It's too drastic of a change! And even we don't have a grip on all of what's beyond this door!" Sodia sputtered. "It's just not safe."

"Well, is she safe HERE?" Flynn's voice had a surprisingly steely edge to it.

Sodia puffed herself up indignantly. "Let's take the princess back to the knight's quarters."

"And have her live among the ill mannered knights? No," Flynn returned.

"What about your good friend Yuri?" Sodia shot back.

"He's not much help at this point."

Footsteps were heard and a bunch of oddly dressed men rounded the corner.

"There she is!"

Flynn looked at Sodia, and Sodia looked at Flynn, and they both nodded. Flynn surged forward with a flurry of attacks.

Sodia looked at the princess.

"Are you ready, my lady?"

"I-I-think so. Um... where is it we are going?" Estelle asked, but Sodia shook her head.

"This is no time to discuss. I will tell you what I know after we get to a safe location."

They jumped through the portal together, falling into blackness. After a while of falling, they were more floating, and soon, their feet touched ground. when they looked around, they were standing in front of a large iron gate. Sodia nodded.

"Exactly where I thought we'd be."

They entered the gates, revealing a large white building with lots of windows on it. They walked down quiet corridors and reached a room with odd markings on it. The female knight pointed to the markings and explained, "This means, 'Do not enter without knocking.'" She rapped sharply on the door twice and a male poked his head out.

"Who is it- oh, it's you!"

"Can we come in?"

"Yes, of course!" The guy opened the door wider and let both of them in. Estelle blushed as the guy looked at her with awe. Sodia cleared her throat.

"Clearly, I wouldn't be here unless it's an emergency."

"Is she-" the guy pointed to Estelle- "REALLY your cousin?"

"Of course!" Sodia snapped.

"Never would've guessed," the guy marveled. "Just judging by the hair color." His eyes went back to Estelle again (full out ogling her this time) and Estelle felt herself blush, and quickly looked down. Sodia was quick to catch the lusty look in the guy's eyes, and smacked him upside the head with a fan (procured from midair).

"Nakamura! No sexual harassment, or I will report you! Need I remind you, I am still student council president. Now, moving on to more important matters: we will be staying here for a while. There's been a family crisis that compels us to stay here. My cousin will be staying with me in the girl's dorms. I expect that will be all right with everyone?"

"N-no problem at all," Nakamura groaned, rubbing his head. He sat up, addressing the princess. "I'm Akira Nakamura. Pleased to meet you."

"I'm-" She looked at Sodia, and the female knight mouthed something at the pink haired girl.

"I'm Estelle Rassein. Pleased to meet you."

"I'm sure we'll get along well," Akira said with a wink, which caused the princess to blush again.

"I'm going to show her around now," Sodia informed Akira, and they left.

After a while of navigating around and getting lost, they stood in front of a red-bricked building.

"Well, here we are. The girl's dormitory."

-END chapter 1-

_**Phew, I was running out of steam towards the end! Anyway, how did you guys like it? I hope the characters are not too OOC. I had to spend some time researching the characters and watching a few videos to get the feel of the characters' personalities. A few notes: when I was in third person mode, I will refer to Estellise as Estelle. I am aware that only Yuri calls her that, but I need a way to refer to her other than 'princess', 'pink-haired princess', or 'Lady Estellise', so I'm just going to use 'Estelle' to refer to her. Another note: Estelle's name has been shortened, from Princess Estellise Sidos Heurassein to Estelle Rassein. Her name would be a dead giveaway that she's a runaway princess, no? Anyway, everyone look forward to the next chapter and please review!**_


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